Be careful when you complain about something at work, because itjust might become your new job.

That advice given to me by my two credit union bosses is ringingin my ears as I take on the duties of executive editor atCredit Union Times. What I call constructive complaining –which requires not just criticism, but also a solution – earned mymentors additional responsibilities and boosted their careers.

And after years of listening to me insist that I know whatcredit unions want because I come from the industry,Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Sarah Snell Cooke gave me the opportunityto prove it in this new position.

My two aforementioned bosses were Ralph Ruiz, chief operatingofficer at the $367 million SkyOne Federal Credit Union inHawthorne, Calif., and Roy MacKinnon, vice president of marketingat the $1 billion First Entertainment Credit Union inHollywood.

Yep, I did business development in air traffic control towersand on movie lots. Tough duty, eh?

But I digress. Either one of these guys could have settled for agreat career in just marketing and business development. Instead,they not only offered solutions for other departments, they alsobacked it up with action.

For Ralph, it was the unusual pairing of information technologywith marketing. Because SkyOne members primarily access the creditunion remotely, he wanted to improve the effectiveness of hismarketing campaigns, so for him, IT was a perfect match. Ralph wasso successful running IT, which included a dreaded core processorconversion, he eventually added branches, the call center, centraloperations and other departments to his resume.

And it paid off. Later this month, he takes over aspresident/CEO at the Wilmington, Calif.-based, $138 million ILWUCredit Union. They're lucky to have him.

Roy has also spread his wings at First Entertainment, for a timerunning the mailroom, and also filling in running the creditunion's robust lending department when there has been turnover inthe lending VP position, learning about asset liability managementand stepping up to serve as interim CEO when President/CEO ChuckBruen travels out of town. Roy hasn't moved on to a corner office(because really, is there a cooler job in credit unions thanrunning First Entertainment's marketing?) but if he chooses to doso, he'll have the skill set needed to do the job.

I share this lesson with my fellow 40-somethings, who have beenpatiently waiting for their chance to move up and replace thehighly successful Baby Boomer generation in those coveted executivepositions. If there's one defining quality of my generation (otherthan eye rolling and, like, overuse of the word like) it's this:we're not afraid to take on responsibility. Perhaps it comes fromthe latch-key days when we were tasked as elementary schoolchildren with making our own afterschool snack, getting ourhomework done on our own, feeding pets, helping our youngersiblings and even getting dinner started, all before our parentsarrived home from work.

We're capable of running credit unions, too, and leading thisindustry into the future. But we need to prove ourselves first.That means offering to fill in as interim facilities manager,helping out with collections, or volunteering to organize thestrategic planning session – especially if you're confident thatyou could improve the process.

I've heard many times that small credit unions can't find GenXers willing to replace retiring Boomers. After seeing the new CUESExecutive Compensation Survey and learning that the average basesalary for CEOs at credit unions with fewer than $100 million inassets is six figures, I have my doubts. There are plenty of us whowould love to make that career move. Maybe they seem too young toretiree volunteers. Maybe they aren't throwing their hats into thering. Or maybe they lack that jack-of-all-trades experience neededto run a small credit union.

Running a shop in this low-rate, compliance-heavy, sluggisheconomic environment won't be easy, but the industry also has a lotgoing for it. We kick community banker butt when it comes to theadoption of must-have technology like mobile banking. And thoseawful big banks continue to lob us bad headlines that we can slugout of the park with our cooperative, local, service-focusedbats.

If you think you can improve your credit union, say so, but beprepared to back it up with ideas and a plan. Constructivecomplaining worked for my mentors, it worked for me, and it canwork for you, too.